Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-12-27
A HIGH PRICED VOLUME.

How Edwin Forrest Secured u Copy OF
the 1913 Edition of Shakespeare.
"A notice which | saw the other day,
| That Messrs. Funk !I Wagnalls are about
publishing a fac simile edition of the 1921
folio edition of Shakespeare, reminds me
Of how Edwin Forrest bought his 1923
copy Of Shakespeare - said Philadelphia
gentleman at the Hoffman house one
evening. Il WAS connected with the auc-
ton house of VI. Thomas & Sons, in Phil
sdelphia- for number of years, and For
rest used Ia come i'll the store great deal
and patronize the book sales. He seldom
did any bidding himself, but used to tell
Mr.. Jennings, of the firm, and a life long
friend of the actors, 10 buy certain books
for him. He never left any limit to his
bids, but always said simply buy them.
II the auctioneer thought a book was
bringing much more than its value. and
in Mr.. Forests interests let it go. the big
actor would storm and rave the next time
he came in, and declare that he would
never buy another book in the place il his
orders were not carried out to the letter.
'But what I started To tell you was
about the famous old 1923 edition Of
Shakespeare. You know there are only
n few copies in the world. and they are
OF great value, Of course. Well, We had
copy for sale one day, and it was so well
advertised, not only in this country, but
elsewhere. that agents from libraries In
England and other countries crossed the
ocean to buy it, The day before the sale
Forrest walked into the store and said to
Mr.. Jennings:
al want that Shakespeare Buy it
How high viii you gos' asked Mr..
Jennings.
How high don't know and don't
care. Buy it. want It
.'Then Forrest stalked out without say
ing another word. The next day, when
the big folio WAS put up for sale. there
was some lively bidding. The starting
price was 800 by an Englishman. and it
was not long before it reached 500.
Seven hundred and ikty dollarsr at
last shouted the EnGlishman who had
started the book at Slo0
"'And 500 ! have already, said the
auctioneer, with a smile.
"'Whc did You get the bid from
don't see any one else bidding now, said
the Englishman.
a. gentleman left the bid with me-
"'Who was ity'
"'Ned Forrest.
"'That settles it., said the bidder. If
Forrest wants that book there is no use
bidding against him He'd give SO, 900
for it rather than not get IL. Im through
bidding
THE auctinneer tried 70 get another
bid, but without success. and at last his
hammer fell and the Shakespeare belonged
TO Forrest Tne actor was delighted the
next day with his prize. He took it to
his mansion on North Broad street and
had a glasscase made for IL. 1t was placed
in this case open at the title page and no
one was allowed TO touch it. Forrest had
a fac -simile copy which he read He gave
orders that il ever his house should get
m fire the 1923 Shakespeare was to be
the first thing saved. He had magnifi
cent Shakespearean library, but the big
folio he considered was worth more than
all the rest put together. curious
thing happened after Forrest died. A
defective fiue caused little fire in his
library, and about the only thing Of value
that was burned was that very 1923 edi
ton that he priced SO highly. New
York Evening sun.